Let’s Party… Let’s go camping!

Welcome back to our last instalment in our 3 party series with Berry & Flambé Southern Suburbs! If you’re new to this series, let’s catch up quickly… Over the past few months, we chose three different party themes. Well, two so far Rainbows & Unicorns, Alice in Wonderland and today’s one – Let’s go Camping!

The people who put these themes forward have each won a voucher for a two-tiered themed cake of their choice…So congratulatons to Mishqah Du Toit! You have won a special themed cake of your choice for your selection of my very favourite Let’s Party theme so far… Let’s go camping! It’s such a winner that the girls have selected it for their theme next month too.

These three themes are going to a vote in July!! And ONE lucky Cape Town Southern Suburbs reader is going to win a whole themed party! This includes a cake, decor, party food, party packs, a jumping castle and soft-play set up for 15 children!!

Let’s go camping!

1. Why this theme?

Because smores! No… (but seriously – smores). And also because the camping theme brings SO many amazing side options with it! You can bring a woodlands creature vibe to it or maybe a boy scouts undertone. I personally like that it lends itself to both genders and will be a fun theme for anyone attending the party. Who doesn’t want to play with fire? (Or pretend fire… age dependent of course.) That’s another awesome thing about this theme, it can really work for any age group, from toddlers to tweens or even teens, with slight adjustments.

2. Decor

The decor is pretty easy – set up a couple of teepee tents and you’re good to go. Add in some pine cones that you have collected and strung up alongside some other twigs and greenery – bunting sorted.

OK let’s be real, we’re not going to stop there. But I do like that you can go big or chilled with this theme. If you’re doing woodland creatures, you can add in lots of foxes, bunnies, bears, etc. You could go for a more traditional vibe with lots of arrows and teepees. If you’re doing scouts, you can add badges, matches, fires, bird calls, knots and that kind of thing.

3. Cake

The new trend of having a smores cake totally appeals to me, but I’m not sure that our children would agree. There are so many options – you can make the cake in the shape of a tepee, have a very plain “ground” looking chocolate cake with a hand made tent and fire on the top. But I keep going back to the smores option because it just looks so freaking delicious.

4. Food

A lot of camping is being able to do it all on your own. So in light of that we’d have a build your own burger/ hotdog stand right next to a make your own smores table or a hot chocolate station. Toadstool cupcakes, pretzel twigs, tepees made from ice cream cones and easter eggs masquerading as birds eggs all add the finishing touches.

5. Activities

Party of the activities would be making their own food, but once their tummies are full you can move on to more active games. Scavenger hunts to find random nature objects like pine cones, squirrels, etc. You can plant them around the garden if you don’t have access to a park nearby). You can teach them how to tie knots, shoot bows and arrows onto targets and if you’re feeling very brave and creative you can get them to make their own tents.

6. Party packs / take homes

A big part of camping is the cutlery and crockery that you use while you’re there. You could get little personalised polymer mugs from Nectar & Ink or source tin cups and plates. Alternatively you could consider buying t-shirts that you get printed with your camp name… Ie. I went to Camp WanaHackALugie. All very cool keepsakes.

On a more simple note, you can find long sticks in your local forest and tie hanckies to them and fill them with the usual party pack goodies. All great options that kids will LOVE.

Cindy is a happily married mom of 3 little humans, Kyla (6), Riya-Ray (5) & Knox (3). She has her own business, and is the always-funny voice behind Best Parenting Blog of 2015, 3 Kids, 2 Dogs and 1 Old House! Being a mom of 3 means she gets to indulge in one of her favourite pastimes - planning awesome themed parties. Every month Cindy's column Let's Party with Cindy will share ideas (and occasionally free downloads) on everything from decor and food to costumes and party packs on a different theme.

I was so honored to become a finalist for the new specisl theme choice! I adored this theme back then and even more so now!! My son Deen is 4 years old and will be 5 years old on 24 May 2018. #PartyWithMe